Preparing this blog post felt like a vacation. It all came back. The sand on my feet, the palm trees billowing in the breeze, the warm, turquoise water, and the humid nights. It’s hard to beat Ingrid and Jake’s wedding. Adding to the magic of Miami Beach, the couple embraced the bride’s Cuban heritage with incredible food and live Cuban music. The day was full of laughter and fun, but the experience was hallmarked by Ingrid and Jake’s emotional, tender moments for each other and their friends and families. I couldn’t be more proud to share this story with you.

I fell in love with Natalie and Seth the moment we met. Please read their love story on their engagement post, it’s pretty special. Natalie is incredibly creative (check out her fashion blog here) and designed the wedding herself. Her hard work paid off, because everything from the location to the table settings to the hand painted signs felt perfect. Rhett and I have had the priviledge of getting to know Natalie and Seth over the course of our relationship with them, and consider them friends. It was so special to connect with their wonderful families and all of the people the mean the most to them.

All of our best to you both, congratulations, and thank you for sharing your day with us. The photo story is below.

Kindra and Connell got married at the home she grew up in, in Turlock, California. The portraits you see below are in the field across the street and in her parents’ almond orchard. The highlight of the day, aside from the incredible dance party (grandparents included), was the dog taking a huge bite out of the wedding cake as the girls got ready. Fortunately, he got to an extra sheet before the real deal. Phew!

Sometimes the weddings that are the hardest to write about are the ones that mean the most to you. With that, I’ll leave you with these images of two of my best friends’ wedding day. You may remember Marion and Brian from their engagement session.

A huge thank you to my friend Michael Rowley for spending the day with me. Your talent, personality, and dance floor skills are not to be rivaled.

Can’t even begin to tell you about the incredible time we had with Natalie, Seth, and their family and friends this weekend at Coyote Ranch, so please enjoy a few preview images below. I also want to share a very special email we received late last night from Natalie’s dad, Brian. Rhett and I read it out loud and both of us teared up. This is exactly why we do it, this is why we love it.

Kelly and Rhett,

Life is funny, you never know when you will meet the most awesome, genuine, kind, loving people. I met them at my daughters wedding.
To say I was impressed with your photography would be a huge understatement and that’s not what I was most impressed with. You very rarely meet people who you feel comfortable with right away but you guys I loved right away, you are two very special people. You made Natalie and Seth’s wedding so so special and it will be your pictures that will remind her and us and her children of that magical day.
I’m sitting here trying to find the words to let you know how much I appreciated and just really enjoyed you guys and I can’t. So I will just say Thank You for being you, I think life is about being real and just loving everyone you can, doing the best you can and that’s about it, you two exude all those qualities. Thanks so much for sharing that very special day with us, Natalie and Seth really love you guys and some day when your little girl is getting married you will truly understand just how much joy all your photos have brought so many people. I hope you can find photographers / awesome people as good as you guys to be there that day for you.

Kelly met Kyle when she moved to his hometown of Houston to join the Houston Ballet. As I understand, a co-ed softball team and some shared connections had something to do with bringing them together. And really, they couldn’t be a better match. Kelly and Kyle have this calm about them, and confidence in their love, that shines through in the images we created.

Their intimate 70 person wedding took place at Manka’s Inverness Lodge in Inverness, part of the Point Reyes Seashore. I had so much fun hanging out with Kelly and her friends as they got ready — and yes, I pinched myself several times — real life ballerinas! You can trust that this extended to the dance floor where everyone, ballet dancer or not, let loose and danced until the end.

Other highlights included the incredible food at Manka’s (and thanks for taking care of your vegan photographer, you two! Best food ever), witnessing two very close knit families celebrate and embrace the bride and groom like I’ve never seen before, a touching and upbeat toast-song by their talented friend Noni, and simply the most beautiful surroundings I’ve seen in some time. Oh, and I should mention, some pretty rad grandmas.

All of my congratulations to Kelly and Kyle as they begin their lives together — and gratitude for including me in your day. Please enjoy the story below.

Here’s something I’ve never seen at a wedding before — minutes before Paige and Justin’s ceremony, the coordinator’s car rolled down the hill, over a retaining wall and into an embankment. And all things considered, I’ve never seen such an easy going group. The coordinator Stacey shrugged it off and went back to work with a positive attitude. Justin and his groomsmen posed for pictures with the fire engine. Paige arrived by limo as the firefighters were trying to get the car out and — after making sure everyone was okay — gave a big smile and walked inside to marry the love of her life.

You might recognize Paige and Justin from their Half Moon Bay engagement session with their adorable puppy, Tucker. I wrote about how moved I was around them, just the way they treat each other and look at each other. Let me say, nothing has changed. Their wedding was a celebration of a really special love. Rhett and I felt like we were celebrating with friends — and our Magnolia Photobooth shots at the end of this post say that better than I could ever write!